THIS invention relates to a forklift vehicle and to a shock absorber device for a forklift vehicle.
Forklift vehicles are commonly used to handle wooden pallets on which goods are stacked. Such vehicles usually have a pair of forks which are L-shaped with upright portions and forwardly projecting tines. In practice, the vehicle is driven such that the tines enter the pallet, between upper and lower decks thereof. The tines are fully inserted when the upright portions of the forks abut the upper deck of the pallet.
A problem which arises is damage to the upper deck of the pallet if the forklift vehicle approaches the pallet too fast and the impact between the upright portions of the forks and the upper deck of the pallet is too severe. In such situations, it is quite common for the leading edge of the upper deck to suffer considerable impact damage or for this deck to be ripped off entirely. A similar problem arises if, having picked up a pallet, the driver of the vehicle drives too fast to an off-loading destination and causes the pallet to impact against a formerly deposited pallet or against another obstacle. In each case, the upper deck of the pallet can be destroyed extremely rapidly to the extent that the pallet becomes unserviceable and replacement thereof is necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,464 to Schuster addresses the aforementioned problems to some extent. Schuster proposes a shock absorbing device which is intended to impact on a cross-bearer of the pallet structure before the upright portions of the forks impact against the upper deck of the pallet. Schuster's shock absorbing device comprises a solid rubber cushioning member fixed to a bracket. The bracket is attached, in a readily movable manner, to the upper and lower carriage or cross beams of the forklift vehicle with the rubber cushioning member extending below the lower carriage beam.
While the Schuster shock absorbing device has the advantage that at least a part of the impact is transferred directly to the cross-bearer rather than to the leading edge of the upper pallet deck, it has the problem that when the device impacts against a pallet, the reaction force on the device applies a moment to the device which tends to disconnect the device from the supporting carriage beams. After a few impacts only the device may work loose and thereafter be unable to perform a proper shock absorbing function.